Tell Me You Need Me
by kw15915
Summary: This story is a series of one-shot tags for the end of episodes.  Castle and Beckett do need each other more than they even realize.
1. Chapter 1

Tell Me You Need Me.

Characters aren't mine, just the story.

She was standing at the sink washing dishes. Her mother had always told her that she did some of her best thinking when her hands were in hot soapy water. Tonight standing in Castle's loft, hand washing crystal wine glasses the enormity of the day's events were finally hitting her._ He could have died today. I could have lost him._ She dropped her head and sucked in a deep breath. _Hold it together, Kate. Don't fall apart now._

On the other side of the kitchen Rick and Alexis were having a tea towel swatting contest. "Ha…Ha, little bird, big bird has won this match. Bow before me and surrender your weapon." Rick announced with flourish.

"No way, old bird, I will never surrender to the forces of swat. You must catch me first for I now have an ally. She is strong and will never allow the forces of swatdom to prevail!" Alexis laughed breathlessly as she crossed the room toward Kate and spun her around as a shield between herself and her father.

"Oh, don't think she can save you. She is an agent of the kingdom of swat, who..." He stopped abruptly as he saw the look on his partner's face, "Kate, you okay?" He reached out for her the towel quickly forgotten falling to the floor as Alexis peaked around her side with a questioning look.

"I'm fine," clearing her throat; she paused then took a breath. Looking at Alexis, she wiggled her eye brows and reached behind her grabbing up the wash cloth with an evil smile. "You are done, Sir Swat-a-lot," she laughed as she lobbed the soapy, wet missile at his chest."

It landed with a splat as a shocked look washed over Rick's face. He watched as the two most important females in his life laughed and congratulated themselves on their win with a high five that ended in a hug.

Before letting go of Kate, Alexis leaned next to her ear and whispered, "Thanks for today. I'm really sorry about…"

"Hey," Kate squeezed an acknowledgement then pulled back and smiled down at her. "Don't worry about it. I understand."

She nodded her head with a grin and walked over to her dad. "I think I've had enough for today. I'm going to go up to my room and call Jules. Night Kate, night Dad," she said as she dropped a kiss on his cheek and headed toward the steps.

"Night sweetie," Castle turned to watch her progress up the stairs before taking a deep breath and turning back to Kate. "She broke up with Ashley tonight. It's been a hell of day for all of us."

"Hell of a day." Kate sighed as she grabbed some paper towels and cleaned up the wet mess on the floor from the wash cloth.

Rick watched her toss out the wet paper towel, drain the water and clean up the counters. "Hey is everything okay?"

Turning toward him, she leaned back against the sink and sighed. "Yeah, it is now. For a minute the day caught up with me."

They stood there for a moment staring into each other's eyes, each remembering the terror of the day's events.

"Rick,"

"Kate," They spoke in unison as they both slowly drifted toward the other stopping only when no space remained between them. With eyes staring longingly, no words were spoken; none were needed as Kate gently lifted her hand toward Rick's cheek. His head slowly lowered toward her lips…

"Richard, I was wondering…" Martha stopped abruptly as she noticed that something was going on between her son and his partner. "Sorry, I… oh, um, here it is, I'll just head back upstairs. Good night Kate. See you in the morning darling."

The frustrated look on Castle's face made Kate laugh as she stepped back and dropped her left hand to his chest. Feeling the dampness, she glanced down and noticed her dad's watch. It was nearly eleven o'clock. "I should be heading home. It's late and one of us has to get up early for work tomorrow."

He reached up and put his hand over hers. "No stay. You're tired, you've had wine. You can use the guest room." Watching her closely, he hurried on, "You've stayed here before, so you know where everything is. I…sleep here tonight. Please for me."

She studied his face. Damn him. He knew that when he looked at her like that she couldn't say no. She bit down on her lower lip and said, "Okay…but I want pancakes in the morning." She turned and walked toward the stairway.

"Kate…I never doubted for a second that you would get us out." he said as he watched her for a minute before turning toward his office.

She stopped and called to him. "Hey, Castle."

"Yeah," he answered not trusting himself to turn around.

"I do need you…and if you tell anyone else I said that I will have to shoot you." Kate teased with a smile as she went on up to her room leaving a bemused ex-hostage standing alone smiling.

"Until tomorrow detective," Rick whispered.


	2. Chapter 2

Elvis Has Left the Building

These will now be a series of episode tags. What my imagination thinks happened after the end of what we saw. While this one follows the last episode, after this they might skip around. Hope you all like them, so here goes.

Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine, just the story.

He didn't know which was worse, the bongo drums in his head, the solar burst of light shining through his closed eyelids or the frozen wasteland that the bag of peas has left his forehead. _"Man when did I get too old for a night in Atlantic City?"_ Castle thought to himself.

Alexis set beside him, eerily quiet; frowning and wringing her hands… "Dad…"

"Sweetie…not so loud," Castle grimaced as he lifted his head only to drop it back down on the sofa with a groan.

"Sorry. I…well it …they just…it was only supposed to be…I don't know how…" Alexis stopped and took a deep breath before continuing on. "The girls' night turned into a party. Jules's boyfriend stopped by with a couple of his friends then…then people just kept coming. No one listened to anything I said. They were playing with everything. Jules said not to worry cause you were the cool Dad and wouldn't care but…I care. You trust me and...finally, I just got really mad and told them they all had to leave. It was an awful mess and took me hours to clean up. I just…I feel terrible."

Turning his head toward his daughter, Rick slipped the sun glasses off his eyes and slid the peas off so that he could look her in the eyes. "Hey, slow down. Were the police here?

"No."

"Besides the party, did you do anything you are ashamed of?"

"No."

"Drink any alcohol?"

"No."

"Well, then I think no harm done. You learned a lesson." He reached over and pulled her into his side, her head resting on his chest. "I'm still learning that maybe some things that I do…are not in my own best interest. Besides, I do trust you and always will." He dropped a kiss on the top of her head then groaned as it jarred his head. Lying back, he reached up and put the cold pack back on his head.

"I guess we both learned a lesson." Alexis snuggled closer in to her father.

"Grams is better at partying then both of us!" They said in unison.

Castle laughed. "Touche', baby bird." He said as he blindly held out his fingers for her to feed the birds.

Then just as they were both settling, the shrill sound of a text coming in broke the silence of the loft. Moaning Castle set forward and struggled to pull the offending object out of his back pocket. He flipped it face up and read the message.

**Hey Castle, got a body. You in?**

He groaned, and then tapped in his response, **Think I'll sit this one out. **

**Whats wrong Elvis, too much Atlantic City?**

**I resemble that. Hey, don't be cruel. Right now my head's telling me I'm all shook up. Lol **

**No prob. My messages to the boys came back return to sender. I guess I'll just take my suspicious mind and head out on my own.**

**K. Be careful.**

**U bet. **

"Detective Beckett?" Alexis murmured.

"Yeah, I think she misses me," he sighed rubbing his head. "Let's just sit here and rest our eyes."

"Dad? I'm sorry about the party. Guess you're going to have to ground me…two weeks, huh."

"I'm pretty tough aren't I?" Castle snorted as they settled back into the sofa.

"I love you, Dad," Alexis whispered as she snuggled deeper into her father's arms.

"Love you too Pumpkin." Castle answered quietly as his eyes drifted closed and Elvis left the building.


	3. Chapter 3

Hell of a Day

I felt so sorry for Castle at the end of Countdown last season. Just my thoughts on what might have been going on in Castle's mind after Josh (still hard to even type his name) showed up at the end of Countdown.

Disclaimer: nothings mine but the story.

"I was thinking…" a once energized Castle's words ground to a halt as he looked over her shoulder and saw the bane of his existence strolling towards them. The smile on his face faltered as he tried to go on as if his world hadn't just slammed to a stop. "I was thinking that I'll go home…get some rest." He stammered as he tried desperately to smile, turning away as quickly as he could. He just couldn't watch another man putting his arms around the woman he…oh God…the woman he…he loved. 'Don't go there._ All I am to her is a work partner, nothing else._ Just _move it Ricky-boy. Don't look back. Keep your head facing forward and just keep walking'. _Arriving at the elevator, he punched the button, only to have the doors slide open. '_At least something is going my way. Keep your eyes up stupid.' _He groaned inwardly as he slid in and pressed the button to go down.

Leaning his head back against the elevator wall as the doors closed, Castle silently cursed himself for forgetting. _'She's not yours stupid. She doesn't love you' _He was wishing at that moment that the Mayan curse was still on him and the elevator would just drop to the bottom and put him out of his misery. Or even better, how about punching that smug doctor so hard he ended up in Africa after all. Before his thoughts could go any further the doors swished open and he shook his head with a sigh as he quickly left the confines of the elevator and walked through the prescient lobby and out the door.

He stood still for a moment watching life go on around him, New Yorkers going about their everyday lives, not knowing what had almost happened to them today. '_I…we had almost died two times in the last 24 hours, real life, not a chapter in one of my books. I'm not stupid; I know the difference, know that I don't get to write us a fairy tale ending. Just a reminder to self, the good guy doesn't always get the girl. Hell, maybe I'm not even the good guy besides she's dating another man. She doesn't need me or want me. She's told me that enough.' _His heart hurt and his soul felt frozen but he couldn't just stand there and do nothing. _'Man up Richard.' _He thought as he fished his phone out of his pocket and hit speed dial number one. It only rang twice before he heard the voice of the one person he knew loved him without question.

"Dad, are you okay?" Alexis's breathy voice asked. "Is it over? How are Detective Beckett and the guys? Where…"

Warmth washed over him as he stopped her rant, "Wow, sweetie, everything is fine. It's all over. I am going to go home and get changed then head your way. I am so in need of one of your hugs." Castle replied as he threw up his hand to hail a cab. "As soon as I get off the phone with you, I am going to call the car service. I should be there in about three hours."

"Good, I'll order dinner." Alexis sighed, the relief evident in her voice. "I'll get your favorite. Calories won't count tonight."

He laughed quietly into the phone, "Great. Get something good for dessert. Hey, I'll see you soon, Pumpkin. Got to go, I see my ride coming."

He finished the call and slipped his phone into his back pocket as a yellow cab pulled up to the curb. Opening the door, he slid in, giving the driver his address. He leaned back in the seat and dropped his head into his hands with a sigh. _Damn, it certainly was a hell of a day._

Next up No Hassle Castle


	4. Chapter 4

No Hassle Castle

This one is short but sweet. Hope you all like it.

Disclaimer: Only the story is mine, everything else belongs to Andrew Marlow and ABC

"Kate, please I asked you not to call me that." Rick whined into the phone with a frown. The snicker that followed told him that it wasn't the last time he would hear it.

"Come on Ricky, would you rather I called you kitten?" Becket purred into the phone as the elevator in her building came to a stop on her floor. With the phone cradled to her ear, she stepped into the hallway and walked briskly toward her apartment.

"You promised not to call me that either. Wasn't the girly pink tassels the guys hung all over my chair today enough?" Closing his lap top and sliding it over onto the cushions of the sofa, he leaned his head back. "Besides I'm still in mourning. How could Royal not pick me? Man's best friend and all." He pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "You know you shouldn't kick a guy while he's down."

Kate snorted as she let herself into her apartment and without thinking replied. "Bet I can get you up again." She stopped talking abruptly, realizing what she just said out loud and bit her bottom lip. Grimacing she shook her head and attempted to correct herself. "Oh…I didn't…I mean… " Silence followed until she suddenly blurted out, "Alexis have a good time looking at colleges this weekend?"

"Yeah..." His mind drifted off to the real reason he was so unsettled.

"Castle, you still there?" Kate's voice brought him back.

"Sorry, still having a problem with this college thing. It's coming a lot faster than I want it to." Rick lifted his head off the sofa and cleared his throat. "I told her I am thinking of getting a dog. Something she always wanted when she was younger." He shook his head and continued. "Saw right through me. Sometimes I don't know how I ended up with such an intelligent child."

Dropping her keys into the bowl by the door, she smiled, looking down at her hand. "I don't know Castle; I think that she just might get that from her Dad."

"Was that a complement I just heard Detective Beckett?" Rick asked settling back into the cushions of his sofa.

"It's gonna be all right." She added quietly.

"I know." Rick closed his eyes and grinned. "Thanks." He added softly.

"Hey, no hassle, Castle." She smiled, the sound of his laughter blanketing her as she hit the end button.


End file.
